1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a container for a photographic film cartridge which is characterized in its cap.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional cap of a container for a photographic film cartridge was usually made of high-pressure branched low-density polyethylene (LDPE) resin having 0.927 g/cm.sup.3 in density (ASTM D 1505) and 4.0 g/10 minutes in melt index (ASTM D 1238, MI). This resin is superior in flexibility at a low temperature, fitness of cap and body, compressive strength, and low occurrences of burrs and gate marks.
However, in the case of using the LDPE resin, molding troubles, such as a short shot of the molten resin, camber, kink and deformation, frequently occur. Its insufficient heat stability was also a problem. That is, the LDPE resin staying in a continuous molding machine at its screw, manifold, hot runner or other places was gradually colored brown or dark brown by heat. This colored resin was gradually extruded to cause coloring troubles. The generating rate of colored products was high such as 3 to 10%, and these products should be extracted by a checker or a checking machine. A more important problem was that when coloring trouble occurred, the molding machine must be disassembled and washed to remove the colored resin completely. A great deal of time and effort were spent for this cleaning work. As another problem, since the MI of the LDPE was low, its temperature should be high at the molding. As a result, the molding cycle became long.
In order to solve the coloring problem, when the cap was colored by blending carbon black, not only the appearance of the container became unfavorable but also manufacturing cost was elevated. Furthermore, when the whole container was colored black, the inside of the container became hot in the sunshine. This caused degradation of photographic film in it.
A metal container is also known (e.g. Japanese Utility Model KOKOKU No. 58-46413). However, the metal container was expensive, and its mass-producibility was inferior to a plastic container. Accordingly, it is not utilized, now.